Harry Turtledove - Marching Through Peachtree

“Yes, sir,” James the Bird’s Eye replied. “I think Fighting Joseph’s right this time.” That made Fighting Joseph preen, as Hesmucet had known it would. James went on, “Bell is courageous in the extreme. No one could ever doubt that.”

“If he weren’t,” Doubting George said, “he wouldn’t keep leaving pieces of himself on one battlefield or another.”

“Er-yes.” James coughed, then went on, “He’s also as bold as you please, bold to the point of rashness.”

Hesmucet grunted. “That matches what I’ve heard about the man myself. So what do you think it means that false King Geoffrey’s removed Joseph the Gamecock and put Bell in charge of the traitors’ army?”

“A fight.” The three wing commanders might have been singing in a chorus.

“I agree,” Hesmucet said. “Joseph sparred with us and held us off and stalled as best he could, and we’ve made it up to Marthasville anyhow. Unless I miss my guess altogether, Geoffrey thinks Bell can drive us away.”

“Proves he’s a fool,” George said.

“We need to warn all our brigade commanders to be ready for anything the traitors may throw at us,” Hesmucet said.

Fighting Joseph struck a pose. “We can lick them. For the sake of the army, for the sake of the kingdom, we shall lick them.”

“Of course we’ll lick them,” Hesmucet said. “If Bell thinks he can dislodge us, he’s foolish or desperate or both. But he has a better chance if he catches us by surprise, and so the warnings will go out.” He gave his unruly wing commander a hard stare. “I trust you don’t object?”

“Oh, no, sir. You go right ahead.” Fighting Joseph’s invincible self-regard armored him against sarcasm.

“Anything else, gentlemen?” General Hesmucet asked. No one said anything. Hesmucet nodded. “All right, then. You’re dismissed-and do spread the word to your brigade commanders. Brigadier James, please stay a bit, if you’d be so kind.”

“Certainly, sir,” James the Bird’s Eye replied. “What have you got in mind?”

“Let’s take a look at the map, and I’ll show you,” Hesmucet answered. He drew his sword to point at the large map spread out on a table. “You’re already on our left wing, farther north and farther west than any of our other formations.”

“Yes, sir.” James grinned. “I like to be at the edge of things-the cutting edge of things, you might say.” He set a hand on the hilt of his own sword.

Hesmucet smiled, too. “I know. That’s why I’ve used your wing so often to flank the traitors out of their positions. I want you to make what’s more or less another flanking move, over to your left again, so that you seize the glideway coming into Marthasville from Julia. Do you think you can do it?”

“I expect I can, sir,” the young wing commander answered. “Only problem I see with the move is that it’s liable to open a gap between my men and Fighting Joseph’s. Do we want to do that when the northerners have a new commander who’s going to be looking for a chance to attack?”

“Hells, yes, we do,” Hesmucet answered without the least hesitation. “The faster Bell comes out of his trenches and fights, if that’s what he intends to do, the happier I’ll be. I’ll give him bait, if he’s fool enough to take it.”

“Ah.” James the Bird’s Eye nodded. “Fair enough, sir.” He eyed the map again, then said, “There is one other drawback to this, you know.”

“Oh, certainly. I see it, too,” Hesmucet said. “He can concentrate his men wherever he does decide to attack, which makes him stronger there than we are.”

“Yes, sir. That’s what I meant,” James said.

“Thought so,” Hesmucet said. “But the other side of that coin is, he’s weakening himself along every other part of his line. And he won’t be the only one doing the attacking. We’ll keep him busy, I promise you.”

“Good, sir. I expected as much.” James the Bird’s Eye grinned, which made him look even younger than he really was. He was tall and handsome and brave, too. Hesmucet, not far past forty himself, felt positively decrepit when he considered his dashing wing commander. “Whatever they do, sir, we’ll deal with them,” James promised.

“That’s what we’re here for,” Hesmucet said. “They had their chance after the battle by the River of Death. They had it, and they bungled it. Now it’s our turn-and, by the gods, I don’t think they can stop us.”

After James the Bird’s Eye had left, Hesmucet went out of his headquarters and stared north toward Marthasville. He could see the city clearly. He could also see the traitors’ lines that still, despite everything, held his men away from the town at which they’d aimed for so long. How much more could Bell stretch his smaller army? He would have to do something to counter James the Bird’s Eye’s next outflanking move.

James expected Bell to attack. And James knew him better than any other southron general-or, at least, better than any other under Hesmucet’s command. Everyone else agreed with the young wing commander, too. “Come ahead,” Hesmucet murmured eagerly. “You come right on ahead.” If Bell obliged him, he wouldn’t complain. No, he wouldn’t complain at all.

He snapped his fingers and called for a runner. Wouldn’t do to make a stupid mistake like that, he thought. Don’t want to let the traitors have an easier time than they ought to .

When the runner returned, he brought Colonel Phineas, puffing, in his wake. Phineas saluted. “Reporting as ordered, sir,” the army’s senior mage said. He took off his hat and used it to fan his round, bald head.

“Good to see you, Colonel,” Hesmucet said. “I’ve just got word that Joseph the Gamecock has been replaced by Lieutenant General Bell at the head of the Army of Franklin.”

“By the gods!” Phineas exclaimed. “Are you certain, sir?”

“It’s in a Marthasville paper. I can’t be much more certain than that,” Hesmucet answered. If I had really good mages working for me, they would have let me know before I found out from a prisoner or a spy, he thought. Perhaps that was unfair; the northerners’ wizards would have been doing everything they could to keep news from leaking out. But only Alva could have hoped to penetrate whatever deceptions they were spreading, and Alva hadn’t thought to look.

Phineas said, “This will probably change the way the campaign is going. Doesn’t Bell have a name for being a more, ah, aggressive fighter than Joseph?”

“That’s exactly why I called you here, Colonel,” Hesmucet said, pleased to see even so much wit from Phineas. “Everyone’s best guess is that there will be an enemy attack, and soon. I suspect the traitors will try to hit us with their magecraft as well as with their soldiers.”

“That does seem very likely, yes, sir,” Phineas agreed.

“I want you to have all your mages on alert, too, to be ready to beat back such assaults,” Hesmucet said. “I have confidence in our crossbowmen and pikemen and unicorn-riders. And I have confidence in the wizards with us.”

Sourly, Colonel Phineas said, “You have confidence in Major Alva, you mean. The rest of us are just here to watch him.”

That was, in large measure, true. Even so, Hesmucet shook his head. Phineas and the other southron wizards did have some use, and disheartening them would make that less true. The commanding general said, “Major Alva will be busy, but so will the rest of you.”

“To fetch and carry for him.” Yes, Phineas was sour, all right.

Hesmucet shook his head. “By no means, Colonel. Major Alva is best at striking back against the traitors. The rest of you will keep them from striking at us. He is sword, you are shield. We need both.”